Leah Cohen's Yum Woon Sen
This Thai salad is a great dish to bring to a potluck dinner because it is best served at room temperature and the longer it sits, the better it tastes. It is also one of the only salads in Lemongrass & Lime that contains noodles. Cellophane noodles are also referred to as glass or mung bean noodles, so keep that in mind when shopping for them. The pork can also be substituted with ground chicken. This is my version of Yum Woon Sen so the ingredient measurements are tailored to my preferences of sour/sweet/spicy/salty. Feel free to make adjustments to the recipe to suit your tastes—add fish sauce to make it more salty, more lime juice and rice vinegar to make it more sour. I love the pungent, slightly peppery flavor that Chinese celery leaves give this dish, but if you can’t find them, Western celery will work just fine.
Makes 4 Servings
Image Credits
Photo by Dylan Kushel
ingredients
- Dressing
- ¾ cup Red Boat fish sauce
- Freshly squeezed juice of 6 limes (about ¾ cup)
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons palm sugar
- 4 Thai red chilies, thinly sliced
- Salad
- 16 large shrimp (21-25), shelled, tail removed, and deveined
- 10 ounces dried cellophane noodles, soaked in warm water for 30 minutes, drained, and cut with scissors
- ¼ cup garlic oil
- ¼ cup canola oil
- ⅓ cup dried shrimp, soaked in warm water for 30 minutes, drained well, and dried on paper towels
- 10 ounces ground pork 90/10
- 1 teaspoon Thai red chili flakes
- ½ cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves
- 3 scallions, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup fresh Chinese celery leaves or regular celery leaves
- ⅓ cup roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped
- 2 tablespoons crispy garlic
method
-
Make the dressing
Whisk together the fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, palm sugar, and chilies in a medium bowl until the sugar has dissolved. Taste for seasoning, adding more lime juice or fish sauce or sugar, if desired. -
Make the salad
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the shrimp and cook for about 30 seconds, stirring a few times, until just cooked through. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. - Bring the water back to a boil. Drain the noodles and add to the pot and cook for 2 minutes. Drain well, transfer to a large bowl, and toss with the garlic oil.
- When the shrimp are cool enough to handle, slice them in half lengthwise and add to the bowl with the noodles.
- Heat the canola oil in a small sauté pan over high heat until the oil shimmers. Add the dried shrimp and cook for about 4 minutes, stirring a few times, until golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels.
- Bring 1 cup of water to a boil in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the pork and cook for about 7 minutes, breaking the pork up with a spoon so that there are no large clumps, until just cooked through and no pink remains. Drain well and add the pork to the bowl with the noodles and shrimp.
- Add the dressing and stir well to combine. Add the fried dried shrimp, chili flakes, cilantro, scallions, and celery leaves. Transfer to a serving bowl or platter and garnish with the peanuts and crispy garlic.
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| Description | Recipe excerpted from Lemongrass and Lime: Southeast Asian Cooking at Home by Leah Cohen with permission of Avery, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © Leah Cohen, 2020. |
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